Lady Trojans trapped by Indians

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ARCANUM – Fort Recovery was able to score just a few more points than Arcanum in what was more of a defensive battle to pull out a 40-36 non-conference win on Saturday.

The Lady Indians improve to 4-3 overall while the Lady Trojans fall to a still impressive 7-4 mark as their season is at the halfway mark already.

The Lady Indians were led by Val Muhlenkamp, who dominated the first half with 12 of her 17 points for the game. The Lady Trojans had a double duo of Kayla O’Daniel and Taylor Gray, who combined for 28 points for 78 percent of the teams’ total points by scoring 15 and 13 respectively.

The first quarter was a scoring outburst the way the game turned out with 25 combined points. Arcanum knocked in 11 markers while Fort Recovery canned three more for 14. Gray maneuvered all over the inside against two players taller than her for 6 points, followed closely by O’Daniel with 5 counters. Paige Fortkamp camped in the lane to power in a team leading 6 points, followed in line by Muhlenkamp with a score of 4 points for the Indians.

The second quarter showed an interesting stat line to say the least for Fort Recovery as all its points were scored by one person in none other than Muhlenkamp, who built a campground of her own with 8 points. O’Daniel was not too far behind for the orange and black by scoring 5 of the Trojans team total of 7 points.

Points were definitely at a premium for this entire 8 minutes as tenacious defensive traps were found all over the court. Points from the charity stripe were scarce as the Trojans got only one on five attempts for 20 percent, while Fort Recovery only got two attempts and made both in the first. From the 3:10 mark, neither team scored a point as defense reigned supreme with a capital ‘D’ going into the final 16 minutes.

The third quarter had the Lady Trojans still going without scoring until the 4:43 mark for a span of right around seven minutes total without notching a single point. The Trojans soon found the mark and had four players finding the scoring column. Freshman Madelyn Fearon hit her first and only three of the game for her only points of the game while Gracie Garno hit an acrobatic two-pointer and followed that up with a freebie for her three. Brenna Homan was quite the showman for the Lady Indians, who popped in four points in this pivotal frame. The three other Indians could only manage a deuce in this 10-10 quarter of renown.

Known for exciting finishes, the fourth quarter did not disappoint as the rallying cry came out from Arcanum coach Michael Dean and the Lady Trojans responded. At the 7-minute mark, O’Daniel hit a long three bomb from way downtown to cut the lead to 32-31 as both fan bases were on the edge of their collective seats. Fort Recovery then recovered to go up to a 36-31 lead only to see Arcanum shoot it back to 36-34 at the 3:01 mark. Fortkamp then hit a three the old-fashioned way to put the Indians up at the 2:15 mark by a 5-point advantage. Arcanum got it to three on a Gray basket and a freebie with 54 seconds remaining, but could get no closer as the Indians from the tough Midwest Athletic Conference took home the hard fought win by four.

”We ran into a defensive gem tonight as they were able to get out of our traps and convert when they needed to with their two big girls. We never gave up and fought to the end as we are a work in progress. Fort Recovery is a tough, physical team and they shut us down by clogging the lanes. O’Daniel and Gray gave us a scoring punch, but we needed to convert more at the line as 56 percent is not going to get it done especially being up there 17 times. We will grow from this and get better each time out as our freshman are learning more and more what it means to play on the varsity level against very good teams .Our junior varsity is 11-0 and our coaches are doing a wondrous job with them,” commented Dean.

Scoring for Arcanum: O’Daniel 15, Garno 3, Gray 13, Camille Pohl 2, and Fearon 3 for 36 points. Three triples, 9 regulars and 9 of 17 free throws for 56 percent.

Fort Recovery scoring – Homan 4, Fortkamp 11, Kierra Wendel 6, Muhlenkamp 17, and Alli Vaughn 2 for 40. One triple, 15 regulars and 7 out of 10 for 70 percent.

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By Ted Landis Jr.

For The Daily Advocate

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